Ups and Downs

Or should I say downs and ups?

Why I am down - it's a long story, but a lady once asked me how I had knitted a cupcake tea cosy that I had listed on ebay for charity fund raising. I thought she was a fellow knitter, so I shared my pattern with her in an email. I explained that I was in the process of writing it up for publishing. How shocked was I to see then see my cupcake tea cosy in Let's Knit magazine (issue 2) along with a write up about the 'designer'!!! How cheeky. I wrote to the editor and explained that I was in fact the designer - she was very apologetic. The cupcake tea cosy is very popular on etsy and on the lady's own web shop.

Although I was extremely annoyed, I left it be, as I had lots of other designs to write up.

However, the same lady has now copied my distinctive butterfly cake pattern. I'm not sure what to do - should I contact her and question her about it? or just leave it be and get on with writing up my next batch of designs and just hope that her pattern isn't as popular as mine (it's twice as expensive too, which may put people off buying it). I'm still unsure, so haven't taken any action as yet.

On the Up side I have just found two sellers on Misi selling cakes knitted from two of my patterns that have been published in Let's Knit magazine and Lets Get Crafting Crochet. It pleases me that the end product looks great when knitted by others - something I often worry about when designing -(will people be able to follow my pattern and achieve the same results). The answer is clearly yes -

Plump Pudding has knitted some beautiful cupcakes from my Sprinkles pattern, published in Let's Knit (May 2008). I love the one in the pretty little box

Natty Needles Creations has crocheted some cute cupcakes from my crochet pattern that was featured in Let's Get Crafting Croc het (June 2009). These are fab and I love the colour combinations....

Needles Aside

I put down the needles and hooks for a week or so, as we had our family holiday to Menorca. Yarn and sun creams don't mix well, so I put the needles aside and concentrated on relaxing and enjoying my family. We had a fantastic holiday and the weather was sunny and hot. The hotel was brilliant (our fourth visit to the Barcelo Pueblo in Menorca). It was spotless as usual and the food was great. I didn't starve, despite my various food intolerances and allergies. On the contrary - I ate more than I do at home, yum.


I read two fab books - The Other Boleyn Girl, which is about Anne's sister Mary. Very interesting and captivating - I couldn't put it down and would recommend it to anyone who loves historical novels.

I then read 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop. A sad, but again captivating read. I would definitely recommend both books for a great holiday read.

We're back at home now, and the kids off school, so not much crafting or designing to be done. I'm knitting and crocheting some lovely preemie stuff - blankets, gowns and hats. I've been promising myself I would do some for a while, so I'm taking some time out to finish them off for preemies UK.

I finished another pattern too just before we went away. It's a cute pattern for baby bootees. I'm really pleased with the way they turned out and can't wait to give this pair to a friend's baby at the weekend. The pattern is for three styles of baby shoes and is available in my etsy, folksy and misi shops.